Wild Wild Woods

The raptor Coopers Hawk came to the water bowl for a drink, then dropped his tail feathers into the cold water while looking around for...

Robins returned to the wild wild woods; they heard it is now "astronomical spring".  

Downy woody  Picoides pubescens is the smallest woodpecker of the wild wild woods.  We see two or three at a time, searching up and do...

This hawk was gliding over the feeder garden looking for breakfast.  The American Crows, who had been snatching...

We heard the shrill whinnying calls of the male Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus as he made his way through the woods, then came t...

19th annual Great Backyard Bird Count -- in the wild wild woods today, Mourning Dove, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Hairy Woo...

These two European Starlings have been coming to the suet feeders for a week or so.  Their Latin name Sturnus vulgaris is fitting, since...

Today, just as the heavy snow started falling, two Redpolls showed up at the feeder garden.  They darted often back into the woodland ed...

In gardening season, I found buried several pieces of the old barbed wire that used to be the fence row when this was farmed lan...

The seedheads of Joe Pye Weed stand at the edge of the woods. When nibbling these seeds, the Goldfinches nearly disappear by blending in ...

Female: red crest on back half of head Male: red crest on entire head plus red "moustache" Every w...

A fallen tree in the wild wild woods has become a feeding trough for critters and birds.  (See "insect picnic" posted on 7-20-1...

Now that some snow blankets the ground, we can easily see tracks in the woods.  Rabbits, grey squirrels, red squirrels, mice, chipmunks...

Today the male yellow-shafted Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus visited the suet block for breakfast.  It was a wet foggy winter mornin...

Today we spotted the Sharp-shinned Hawk at the feeder garden, probably hunting. The raptor perched for a while on top of one feeder p...

This winter is slow to chill Minnesota.  The "trumpet vine" Lonicera 'Major Wheeler' is still blooming!  Not just hanging...

Usually we see Nuthatches walking UP a vertical tree trunk or hitching DOWN a steeply slanted tree branch, pecking insects he finds in...

The veggie plot converts to a bird feeder garden in winter.  The edible crops have been harvested.  The perennials reach down to overwint...

The first snow this season was just a dusting to make things look a bit like winter in Minnesota.  It placed little white caps on the b...

Dusk, yesterday.  A hawk glided in over the bird feeders and landed on a branch of the big elm tree. A perfect place to peer down into th...

Warmer-than-average weather this autumn!  Many perennials are still standing and even blooming in the gardens and woods. The raspberr...

The summer weather has been wonderful, and with frequent rain lately the mushrooms are numerous.  I have not studied that chapter in na...

"Snag" refers to a still-standing dead tree, or one dying from damage, often missing its top or most of the smaller branches....

Two female hummingbirds come to the salvia blossoms every day. 

Blooming in late summer, the Blue Vervain's tiny 1/4" flowers grow on floral spikes about 5" tall.  This native plant Verben...